Breed Standard - FCI # 57
General
Appearance
That of a medium-sized short-coated hunting dog of distinguished appearance
and bearing. Robust but rather lightly built; the coat is an attractive solid
golden rust. This is a dog of power and drive in the field yet a tractable and
affectionate companion in the home. It is strongly emphasized that field conditioned
coats, as well as brawny or sinewy muscular condition and honorable scars indicating
a working and hunting dog are never to be penalized in this dog. The qualities
that make a "dual dog" are always to be appreciated, not deprecated.
Head
Lean and muscular. Skull moderately wide between the ears with a median
line down the forehead. Stop between skull and foreface is moderate, not
deep. Foreface or muzzle is of equal length or slightly shorter than skull
when viewed in profile, should taper gradually from stop to tip of nose.
Muzzle square and deep. It must not turn up as in a "dish" face
nor should it turn down. Whiskers serve a functional purpose; their removal
is permitted but not preferred. Nostrils slightly open. Nose brown. Any
other color is faulty. A totally black nose is a disqualification. Ears,
thin, silky and proportionately long, with rounded-leather ends, set fairly
low and hanging close to cheeks. Jaws are strong with well developed white
teeth meeting in a scissors bite. Eyes medium in size and depth of setting,
their surrounding tissue covering the whites. Color of the iris should
blend with the color of the coat. Yellow or any other color is faulty.
Prominent pop-eyes are faulty. Lower eyelids should neither turn in nor
out since both conditions allow seeds and dust to irritate the eye. Lips
cover the jaws completely but are neither loose nor pendulous.
Neck
and Body
Neck strong, smooth and muscular, moderately long, arched and devoid of dewlap,
broadening nicely into shoulders which are moderately laid back. This is mandatory
to maintain balance with the moderately angulated hindquarters. Body is strong
and well proportioned. Back short. Withers high and the topline slightly rounded
over the loin to the set on of the tail. Chest moderately broad and deep reaching
down to the elbows. Ribs well-sprung; underline exhibiting a slight tuck-up
beneath the loin. Tail set just below the level of the croup, thicker at the
root and docked one-third off. Ideally, it should reach to the back of the stifle
joint and be carried at or near the horizontal. An undocked tail is faulty.
Forequarters
Shoulder blades proportionately long and wide sloping moderately back and fairly
close at the top. Forelegs straight and muscular with elbows close. Feet cat-like,
round and compact with toes close. Nails brown and short. Pads thick and tough.
Dewclaws, if any, to be removed on front and rear feet. Hare feet are faulty.
Hindquarters
Hind legs have well developed thighs with moderately angulated stifles and hocks
in balance with the moderately laid back shoulders. They must be straight as
viewed from behind. Too much angulation at the hocks is as faulty as too little.
The hocks are let down and parallel to each other.
Coat
Short, smooth, dense and close-lying, without woolly undercoat. A distinctlycation.
Color
Solid golden rust in different shadings. Solid dark mahogany red and pale yellow
are faulty. White on the forechest, preferably as small as possible, and white
on the toes are permissible. Solid white extending above the toes or white anywhere
else on the dog except the forechest is a disqualification. When viewing the
dog from the front, white markings on the forechest must be confined to an area
from the top of the sternum to a point between the elbows when the dog is standing
naturally. White extending on the shoulders or neck is a disqualification. White
due to aging shall not be faulted. Any noticable area of black in the coat is
a serious fault.
Gait
Far reaching, light footed, graceful and smooth. When moving at a fast trot,
a properly built dog single tracks.
Size
The ideal male is 22 to 24 inches at the highest point over the shoulder blades.
The ideal female is 21 to 23 inches. Because the Vizsla is meant to be a medium-sized
hunter, any dog measuring more than 1½ inches over or under these limits
must be disqualified.
Temperament
A natural hunter endowed with a good nose and above-average ability to take
training. Lively, gentle-mannered, demonstrably affectionate and sensitive though
fearless with a well developed protective instinct. Shyness, timidity or nervousness
should be penalized.
Disqualifications
Completely black nose.
Solid white extending above the toes or white anywhere else on the dog
except the forechest.
White extending on the shoulders or neck.
A distinctly long coat.
Any male over 25½ inches, or under 20½ inches and any female over
24½ inches or under 19½ inches at the highest point over the shoulder
blades.
History
In Hungary
The Vizsla is different from other pointingdogs by it's origin. As other breeds
are descended from the Spanish Braco, the Hungarian Vizsla has it's rootes from
the Asiatic ancestores. From the history of the 1300-century the "Yellow
huntingdog of the Hugarian" is known. Some of the illustrations of this
yellow dog is found in Besci Kepes Krinik (picture feature).
In the 1300-century, when the hudge, extensive forestareas in Hungary disappeared,
and the open areas - the Puszta - spread out, small game hunting became more
and more commen. The number of big game reduced as the forests disappeared and
when the pheasant came into Hungary in the 1400-century, the hunting of small
game manifested itself.
Amon
the Pannon-Kopo dogs, which were left on the Puszta, several lines developped
as ideal huntingdogs for small game hunting. In those lines many red/yellow
individuals were seen.
The
aristocracy chose the best individuals for falcon- and small game hunting. During
the Turkish invasion (1400-1554) the Turikish "yellow dog were cross-breed
and the gradually homogeneous Vizsla became a favourite amon the aristocracy
as well as the hunters. This has been proved in many documents and letters,
fx. one, that Janos Gyulay wrote in latin (1563) to Kristof Batthyani:
"We
are aware of the fact, that Your Highness are in possession of some small falcons.
We would be gratefull to have one or two of those, but a dog (Vizsla) with good
scenting abilities and good retrieving abilities would be appresiated most".
(Sed et unum canem odoranium vulgo fyrejre valo Vizslath nobis dare velit)
The
Asian blood had a positive influence on the Vizsla which both in exterior and
huntingabilities became more homogeneous.
A highly placed aristocratic family, Zay, began the first serious breeding of
the Vizsla in the 1700-centure, and in that century,
and into the 1800-century, the yellow Vizsla was the most widespread huntingdog
in Hugary.
In the end of 1800-century, it became commen to import and breed other huntingbreeds
which caused problems for the Vizsla. It became almost impossible to ferret
out a Vizsla. Continuous purebreed breeding was almost impossible, and for that
reason foreign blood was mixed into the breed. (Pointer, German Shorthair).
In
November 1916 Tibor Thuroccy pleaded through the Hungarian hunting-magazine
Nimrod, for the Hungarian hunters attention to save the Vizsla.
At that time the Vizsla had it's present name: The Hungarian Vizsla.
In 1917 the first temporary pedigrees were issued at the same time as a nationwide
search to find those specimen, that were closest to the original yellow Vizsla.
The search were complicated, because it was in the middle of the World War I,
but they succeeded in having 3 dogs (Ficko, Honved and Rupp) registrated as
well as 9 bitches (Laura, Rica, Stanci, Ara, Donna, Miss, Lidi, Cati and Borcsa).
It was urgent to save the breed, before it was totally mixed with Western-european
blood.
In 1920 the "Union of the Hungarian Vizsla-breeders" were founded
with Kalmar, Polgar as president, and the first real pedigrees were issued.
After those difficult years, different types of Vizslas were commen - every
single breeder found his own type correct - and that complicated the breeding.
In 1928 the first breed-description were documented, and in 1935 the breed was
approved by F.C.I. as the Hungarian Nationaldog.
During
the World War II a lot of breeding material was lost - not only amon Vizslas
- and in the postwar period the Vizsla was almost degraded to companiondog.
The latest years' increasing interest for hunting and game care has appreciated
the Vizsla as it original is - a first class huntingdog.
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